updated 09:06 pm EDT, Thu May 29, 2014

Complete, royalty free engine available through platform for monthly fee

In March, Crytek announced that it would be introducing the CryEngine as an engine as a service for developers seeking out the game engine. For a price of $10 a month, developers could pay for a subscription to the engine, rather than be faced with high upfront costs or royalties on games sold. This week Crytek put the subscription model live, using Steam as its platform.

By using Steam, Crytek ensures that game developers will always have the most up to date tools at their fingertips. Subscription models will be billed on a reoccurring basis, with discounts for those that sign up for larger terms in advance. A six month plan will run developers $50, while a three month billing plan will be $27.

"We wanted to ensure that when we released CryEngine to subscribers, it would be in the best place to address today's indie gamers and developers," said Crytek's Director of Business Development Carl Jones. "Steam is the best place right now for developers to create their games, show them to a huge community and even release them directly to market -- it fits our philosophy for engine as a service perfectly."

Bringing the CryEngine to Steam marks the first complete game engine being offered on the site. Since Steam began offering applications through the service in 2012, a number of development tools have come to the platform. While smaller offerings such as RPG Maker and Gamemaker: Studio have been offered for some time, CryEngine brings a new level of game creation software easily available to consumers.